People also seem to forget that the overall level of hitting was worse back in the day too. Until the 90s, how many 2nd basemen and shortstops could take one out of the park at any time? While there were still prodigious sluggers, overall most teams had a host of all defense, no offense slap hitters up the middle.

Pitchers today have to throw at maximum effort on every pitch as any batter can do real damage for a host of reasons. In the olden days pitchers could take multiple batters "off" and save up energy knowing that at worst they would give up a slap single.